Formal and Informal Assessment of Student Learning
Name: Roberta Closter
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
BIOLOGY
INFORMAL ASSESSMENT: Meiosis graphic organizer: I gave the students a graphic organizer with sequential bubbles which they used to either draw in and label or write about each step of meiosis. After this was complete, I had each student get up in front of the room (6 students) and explain the process of meiosis. While they were explaining the process I would ask them questions to verify vocabulary words and make sure they werent just reading a book definition but making sure the correct information was included and explained properly.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT: Introduction to genetics quiz: Students were assessed on an introductory unit on genetics such topics included were genes, phenotype, genotype, punnet squares (single and double), dominant and recessive alleles, meiosis, comparing mitosis and meiosis and using the punnet squares to calculate percentages of offspring and determine which which were what based on the information provided.
II. Preparation / Development
1. Reflect on your current assessment practices. How have you been determining what students understand and what they are able to do?
Over the past 6 weeks, I have been trying to use a variety of formative and summative assessements to see what and how well my students have been learning. Everyday in class no matter if we are doing a lab, im lecturing, reviewing or watching a movie clip, I try to ask as many questions as possible and have mini discussions, especially with the ones who seem quiet and arent necessarily interacting with me all that much. I also give them some sort of homework on a nightly basis so we go over that in class before we move on so as long as they are in class sometimes they are literally spoon fed the information it is just a matter of if they will write down the information and turn it in to be graded. I just recently gave a genetics current event assignment to my biology students for example. I thought it was pretty cut and dry, 50 points total, 25 for a summary with certain key points and 25 for a reflection with specific key points that I am looking for. Well, that kindof backfired. One student came completely unprepared because he had an article but no written work and did not want to present. The rest had great presentations with clear summaries, we had great discussions and they were thoughtful with their reflections. I found that once they turned in their written work, some were sloppy messes. When I thought something was cut and dry, really I had to break it down specifically so I could grade it. I ended up changing my grading scheme and created a table to determine point values for specific parts of the assignment. I divided it into summary/reflection and presentation. This way I handed back their grading sheets with their work and told them that they had an opportunity to fix the work for more credit, that way they could still get good grade and their expectations were clear. This all happened today and it made me realize that I need to think more about SPECIFICALLY what I want the students to give me, that cut and dry dosent cut it, I literally have to spell everything out. This is good measure because it is a valuable organizational and grading tool. From now on when I give assessments I will have a better idea of what specifically I am looking for and can map it out for the students so they know specifically what their expectations are.
You make several interesting points: Your view of "cut and dry" doesn't necessarily correspond to how they understand what you are expecting or how to do the assignment; that you are more likely to get what you expect if you "show them the target;" that the more explicit an assignment is, the more your students expect to be "spoon fed" on their assignments. The teacher's challenge is to find a satisfactory balance between scaffolding and high expectations.- fogleman.
In terms of the informal aspect of the meiosis graphic organizer, I think this really helped them understand the process. We watched movie clips, read about and used online guided tutorials to help break down and explain the process and importance to them. They used the graphic organizers to draw in the bubbles or write the important ideas of each step and then they were required to get up in front of the class and explain their graphic organizer to the class. I asked them questions along the way to make sure they weren't just mindlessly copying things down but actually understood the material.
Do you think that having all of your students present the same process made the experience less authentic for them?
For the formal assessment, which was their chapter 11 assessment, I had kids that either did really well or really bad. There was no inbetween. Those that did really bad that I am having them after school for a reteach and a test retake. The students took a week out of school before break and didn't complete any of the work assigned while they were away hence the horrible scores. The kids in school were the ones that excelled. I made the test part multiple choice, part punnet square scenarios where they would have to do out the work in order to determine percentages, genotypes and phenotypes. I also had 3 short answer key questions that I thought were really important that they had to answer. But the biggest part of the test was I think that they had to the punnet squares in order to answer the questions.
Is this re-teaching episode an island expectation? I assume the absences were excused?
2. Describe the concept(s) that you are trying to assess in these assignments. Include a link to the appropriate GSE(s) on RIScienceTeachers. Be sure to include in your description your definition, examples of what it is, why students have difficulty with this concept, and why it is important that you teach this topic
LS1 (9-11) –2
Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by …
2a describing the DNA structure and relating the DNA sequence to the genetic code.
2bexplaining how DNA maybe altered and how this affects genes/heredity (e.g. substitution, insertion, or deletion).
2c describing how DNA contains the code for the production of specific proteins.
We just started the chapter 12 in our book which is DNA: information and heredity, cellular basis of life. We just finished chapter 11 which is an introduction to genetics with punnet squares and principles of Mendel and inheritance. In the meiosis graphic organizer I wanted them to explain the whole process by breaking it down, it is hard for students because it is a two step process. It is important material because it is the foundation of studying genetics, sex cells make people and studying gentics is studying people's DNA and learning about how it works, why it is important, and how it repilcates, transcribes and translates. The reflected the most important vocabulary and terminology that I feel as though they needed to be successful in matering the material, I tried to give it real life application by using familiar or fun traits to do the punnet squares. It is important to teach these topics because they lay the groundwork to learning about DNA. Kids have difficulty with these concepts because they aren't tangible to them, they are abstract so by using technology and media especially it helps them be able to see and get a sense of how cool and important it is to learn about the building blocks of life. literally. We just completed our genetics current event assignment and I made those kids make sure they tied it to genetics and that it had some implications they weren't just allowed to find any article and use it for this assignment. They definately now after this assignment and our discussions are more intetested in genetics, they also get it more so than just mindlessly reading the test. They are actually able to comprehend the structure of DNA and are able to see how the code works and the implications in the medical field and in the future of science how they can use this information for heredity of illnesses etc.
3. (and 7) Describe an informal assessment that you selected, modified, or designed to address this concept. Summarize the instructions you gave your students and Include a link to the informal assessment here as well.
I assigned the students 2 that I think are really important here, the meiosis graphic organizer they had to complete and then explain to the class and also the genetics current event assignment. For the graphic organizer I asked them to fill in the appropriate bubbles with either a picture that they drew or with the main words/key concepts of the phase. After all their bubbles were complete they were asked to get up in front of the class and explain the process of meiosis, step by step. I asked them questions along the way to make sure that they actually knew the information and wasn't just copying the information down mindlessly. For the genetics current event, I gave the students a list of bulleted points that I wanted included in the assignment. I set it up in two parts, one being based on the summary and the second being based on the reflection. I changed my whole grading scheme after the fact. See the whole scenario above and attached sheets below.They basically needed to find a genetics article that is current and write a summary and reflection about it then get in front of the class and share. The site had to be reputable and the article I stressed had to be involving genetics and there had to be a clear connection.
So you changed your grading scheme? In your description above, you say that you awarded 25 pts for the summary and 25 for the reflection. In the assignment description, you say that the summary and the reflection are worth 25 pts together, with another 25 pts for the presentation.
I think that the formative feedback that you provide in this bottom box are very important. - fogleman
4. (and 8) Create a formal assessment. Describe this assessment, including concepts, types of items, and how it was assessed. Include a link to a copy of the assessment here as well.
The formal assessment was an 80pt quiz that covered material based on introductory genetics. It covered concepts such as genes, traits, alleles, heterozygous, homozygous, genotype, phenotype, mulitple alleles, polygenic traits, complete dominance, codominant alleles, punnet squares, haploid, diploid, crossing over, tetrads, meiosis, dominant, recessive. The first part was multiple choice, the middle was punnet squares and using the information fathered from them to answer questions and the last 3 questions on the test were short answer questions about crossing over, haploid gametes, and the difference between mitosis and meiosis.Students had 45 minutes to complete it. I have included a key to the test and 3 copies of student work. I will be reteaching the material to those that took the week out of school so they can retake the test for more credit.
High performing
very low performing: took a week out of school before vacation and completed zero work while away. will be retaught and retested.
low performing: this student also missed school and will be retaught the information and retested.
5. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your formal assessment or link it here.
6. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your informal assessment or link it here. This description should include the assessment's features, how it addresses different depths of knowledge, as well as an explanation of how it addresses a scientific practice related to inquiry.
Key is attached. It includes the assessments features. The first part is a summary so that is a DOK of 1 but they need to internalize the information and reflect on it so I think that it has a DOK 2 for reflection. This assignment forced students to read the material, cite their source, figure out what is most important and write a clear summary of the important aspects of the article they chose. Next they had to reflect on their article which included why they chose it and why it was important to the field of genetics and also what future prospects they think could arise out of their article. Then they had to present both to the class. This I thought was a good assignment because it related genetics to the outside world and out of the classroom and I could really see how much more interested and involved they are with the material then they originally were. They are a different class now once they see how genetics can be used for medicine, crime fighting etc. This whole thing was related to scientific inquiry because they had to seek out a genetics based article, summarize and reflect on it and then review it with their peers. I thought it simulated a genetics seminar and most importantly got them involved with the material on a more intrinsic level.
You could perhaps make the assignment resemble a seminar more by limiting Ss article choices to genetics results as reported on ScienceDaily.com. Summarizing (summaries of) scientific studies and reflecting on their relevance could be interesting. This is a tough call, since current events may be more intrinsically interesting.
9. For your informal assessment, upload scans of the work of three or four students. The work of each student should be on a different page. At the bottom of each students' page, you should describe the level of student understanding, e.g. high, average, or low, and describe how this is indicated in their answers. An example of how to do this is here. Note: Remember to name the pages you create carefully, e.g. "Smith S10 - High Performing" instead of "High-Performing."
see #3 and #4.
10. For you formal assessment, describe how you think it addressed the concepts you were trying to assess? How did you modify the assessment to address learning differences or special needs?
I addressed the concepts I was trying to assess by looking at all of our classes and the chapter and then figuring out what was the most importantand what skills they needed to build upon for the next chapter. Once I had compiled all that iinformation then I was able to make my assessment. I tried to vary the types of questions by having multiple choice, punnet squares with questions that had to be done out as well as short answer questions. That way I think every type of learner could shine in their area but they could practice their skills in other areas too. In this specific class I did not have to modify the test for special needs but if I had to I would have extended the prompt for the short answer and had given key words they could use and maybe had some guiding questions to help them with the punnet square scenarios.
III. Analysis / Reflection
11. Use both the informal and formal assessments to describe what you learned about what your students understand about these concepts. Use specific examples from both the informal and formal assessment to illustrate your points. What can your students do now that they could not before, and what do they still need to learn?
The most important thing I learned is that my students ar black and white, there is no gray. I have to explicitly give them directions. I have been enlightened in this way and will have a different grading scheme from here on out as well as make my assessments in a way that gives them a rubric or grading sheet right off the bat so they know exactly what is expected of them so nothing is ambiguous. I learned this from the genetics current event assignment. I think that they still need help searching for scientific articles and finding reputable sources, that is a big one they need help with instead of just typing key words into google. They also need help citing their source and summarizing using their own words instead of copying from the article word for word. I also thought their reflections were very good and insightful so I was pleased with those, it seems like they took the time to complete it so that made me realize that this assignment was beneficial and sheds a new more positive light on the study of genetics in our classroom.
I'm not sure about the "black and white" since the Ss who did poorly were absent during your instruction. I am glad that you're thinking of ways to make the assignment more valuable. - fogleman
From the formal assessment I learned that they still needed some guidance with the punnet square scenarios. They did a great job with the multiple choice which was mainly vocabulary based but when it cam to the punnet squares and they had to put everything together it seems like they were a little lost. So I think that even though they said they could do it and I had them practicing in class they ultimately didn't know it as well as they thought and they should have been practicing more. Some students also missed a lot of school so that is what dragged their grade down because they didn't complete any work over vacation or make time to be retaught the information that they missed so it became clear on this assessment that they should have put more effort into getting their work done. Now we will reteach them and retest them. I think that the short answer questions went really well too, again they were vocabulary based and had to think but overall they could explain the concept and apply it. They just needed more practice with the punnet square scenarios and figuring out what they are being asked. Some of them just didn't read the directions too which I am finding they seldom read any directions!
Personally, I am skeptical of how much Ss understand about genetics after spending a lot of time working with Punnet squares. The bottom line is that we all have similar and different from our parents, but the Punnet squares don't seem to explain those variations because of the other complications. If these connections are made, i.e. if Ss don't understand when the model works and when it doesn't, doesn't using Punnet squares become "inert" esoterica? As a Bio teacher, what do you think? - fogleman
12. OMIT
13. For your formal assessment only, select one student characteristic, e.g. ability, gender, age, etc) and compare the relative performance of each group. Hint: Use box and whiskers plots to compare the two groups. What do you conclude from this comparison? Why?
I have one class of six students for biology. Two students got 100%, 1 still hasn't taken it, 28%, 55%, 48%. The girl got the 28%- she also missed a whole week of school and didnt complete any work that was given to her. The rest of the class is boys. I have 2 very bright and motivated students. I have 1 student that is never in school and is constantly playing catch up. The other 3 do their work but have to work at it. The difference in grades is very surprising but I will reteach and retest the material and go from there.
14. Describe any ways in which you involved students in self-assessment. How did you communicate what you learned from your informal and formal assessments to your students? What did they do with this information?
I think that self assessment was used in my informal assignment when students had to reflect on their summaries.Students will use their old tests to help themselves improve and practice and then will retake the test. We had a discussion about what we learned from everyone's genetics article as a class then i individually graded theirs based on the grading sheet that I made so it was clear what they were graded on. From the formal assessments I learned that I had to reteach the information and have students retake the test. They internalized all this information and are using it to make up what they missed with the genetics assignment and they will use the test to help themselves prepare for the next test.
If the Ss had the scoring guide before hand, could they use it for self-assessment? What problems does this solve? What problems does it introduce? - fogleman
15: Most Important: Compare your objectives for student learning (both in terms of science concepts and practices) to the student learning you observed. What did you learn about your teaching based on the student performances? What will you do differently next time? Why would you make these changes? What, if anything, will you do to improve the assessment instruments?
Teaching based on student performance can be challenging because each student has different strengths, weaknesses and capabilities. So to teach to multiple levels of students can be tricky. What I have learned is that if you break things down to let the really smart kids shine and then give pieces to the other levels so everyone can play their part then everyone is involved, challenged and motivated. Next assessment that I give I will have a table or rubric of exactly how many points are for what and what exactly they need to do broken down into parts. This will improve their work because they will have clear expectations and it will be easier for me to grade. It will also help me know what exactly I want from them so nothing is gray. Rubrics and a chart or table outlinging the assignment!!!! better for everyone.
I am glad you are thinking about meet all of your students' needs. I would think this is a crucial perspective when you have so few students in each class. I know it is difficult to believe given your knowledge of the context, as a teacher who always had ~120 students/year, there is really little excuse that all six are not high performing (other than they don't come to school).
25/24 - Excellent job overall. You need to get in the habit of correcting typos. - fogleman
Name: Roberta Closter
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
BIOLOGY
II. Preparation / Development
1. Reflect on your current assessment practices. How have you been determining what students understand and what they are able to do?
Over the past 6 weeks, I have been trying to use a variety of formative and summative assessements to see what and how well my students have been learning. Everyday in class no matter if we are doing a lab, im lecturing, reviewing or watching a movie clip, I try to ask as many questions as possible and have mini discussions, especially with the ones who seem quiet and arent necessarily interacting with me all that much. I also give them some sort of homework on a nightly basis so we go over that in class before we move on so as long as they are in class sometimes they are literally spoon fed the information it is just a matter of if they will write down the information and turn it in to be graded. I just recently gave a genetics current event assignment to my biology students for example. I thought it was pretty cut and dry, 50 points total, 25 for a summary with certain key points and 25 for a reflection with specific key points that I am looking for. Well, that kindof backfired. One student came completely unprepared because he had an article but no written work and did not want to present. The rest had great presentations with clear summaries, we had great discussions and they were thoughtful with their reflections. I found that once they turned in their written work, some were sloppy messes. When I thought something was cut and dry, really I had to break it down specifically so I could grade it. I ended up changing my grading scheme and created a table to determine point values for specific parts of the assignment. I divided it into summary/reflection and presentation. This way I handed back their grading sheets with their work and told them that they had an opportunity to fix the work for more credit, that way they could still get good grade and their expectations were clear. This all happened today and it made me realize that I need to think more about SPECIFICALLY what I want the students to give me, that cut and dry dosent cut it, I literally have to spell everything out. This is good measure because it is a valuable organizational and grading tool. From now on when I give assessments I will have a better idea of what specifically I am looking for and can map it out for the students so they know specifically what their expectations are.
You make several interesting points: Your view of "cut and dry" doesn't necessarily correspond to how they understand what you are expecting or how to do the assignment; that you are more likely to get what you expect if you "show them the target;" that the more explicit an assignment is, the more your students expect to be "spoon fed" on their assignments. The teacher's challenge is to find a satisfactory balance between scaffolding and high expectations.-
In terms of the informal aspect of the meiosis graphic organizer, I think this really helped them understand the process. We watched movie clips, read about and used online guided tutorials to help break down and explain the process and importance to them. They used the graphic organizers to draw in the bubbles or write the important ideas of each step and then they were required to get up in front of the class and explain their graphic organizer to the class. I asked them questions along the way to make sure they weren't just mindlessly copying things down but actually understood the material.
Do you think that having all of your students present the same process made the experience less authentic for them?
For the formal assessment, which was their chapter 11 assessment, I had kids that either did really well or really bad. There was no inbetween. Those that did really bad that I am having them after school for a reteach and a test retake. The students took a week out of school before break and didn't complete any of the work assigned while they were away hence the horrible scores. The kids in school were the ones that excelled. I made the test part multiple choice, part punnet square scenarios where they would have to do out the work in order to determine percentages, genotypes and phenotypes. I also had 3 short answer key questions that I thought were really important that they had to answer. But the biggest part of the test was I think that they had to the punnet squares in order to answer the questions.
Is this re-teaching episode an island expectation? I assume the absences were excused?
2. Describe the concept(s) that you are trying to assess in these assignments. Include a link to the appropriate GSE(s) on RIScienceTeachers. Be sure to include in your description your definition, examples of what it is, why students have difficulty with this concept, and why it is important that you teach this topic
LS1 (9-11) –2
Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by …
2a describing the DNA structure and relating the DNA sequence to the genetic code.
2bexplaining how DNA maybe altered and how this affects genes/heredity (e.g. substitution, insertion, or deletion).
2c describing how DNA contains the code for the production of specific proteins.
We just started the chapter 12 in our book which is DNA: information and heredity, cellular basis of life. We just finished chapter 11 which is an introduction to genetics with punnet squares and principles of Mendel and inheritance. In the meiosis graphic organizer I wanted them to explain the whole process by breaking it down, it is hard for students because it is a two step process. It is important material because it is the foundation of studying genetics, sex cells make people and studying gentics is studying people's DNA and learning about how it works, why it is important, and how it repilcates, transcribes and translates. The reflected the most important vocabulary and terminology that I feel as though they needed to be successful in matering the material, I tried to give it real life application by using familiar or fun traits to do the punnet squares. It is important to teach these topics because they lay the groundwork to learning about DNA. Kids have difficulty with these concepts because they aren't tangible to them, they are abstract so by using technology and media especially it helps them be able to see and get a sense of how cool and important it is to learn about the building blocks of life. literally. We just completed our genetics current event assignment and I made those kids make sure they tied it to genetics and that it had some implications they weren't just allowed to find any article and use it for this assignment. They definately now after this assignment and our discussions are more intetested in genetics, they also get it more so than just mindlessly reading the test. They are actually able to comprehend the structure of DNA and are able to see how the code works and the implications in the medical field and in the future of science how they can use this information for heredity of illnesses etc.
3. (and 7) Describe an informal assessment that you selected, modified, or designed to address this concept. Summarize the instructions you gave your students and Include a link to the informal assessment here as well.
I assigned the students 2 that I think are really important here, the meiosis graphic organizer they had to complete and then explain to the class and also the genetics current event assignment. For the graphic organizer I asked them to fill in the appropriate bubbles with either a picture that they drew or with the main words/key concepts of the phase. After all their bubbles were complete they were asked to get up in front of the class and explain the process of meiosis, step by step. I asked them questions along the way to make sure that they actually knew the information and wasn't just copying the information down mindlessly. For the genetics current event, I gave the students a list of bulleted points that I wanted included in the assignment. I set it up in two parts, one being based on the summary and the second being based on the reflection. I changed my whole grading scheme after the fact. See the whole scenario above and attached sheets below.They basically needed to find a genetics article that is current and write a summary and reflection about it then get in front of the class and share. The site had to be reputable and the article I stressed had to be involving genetics and there had to be a clear connection.
So you changed your grading scheme? In your description above, you say that you awarded 25 pts for the summary and 25 for the reflection. In the assignment description, you say that the summary and the reflection are worth 25 pts together, with another 25 pts for the presentation.
I think that the formative feedback that you provide in this bottom box are very important. -
4. (and 8) Create a formal assessment. Describe this assessment, including concepts, types of items, and how it was assessed. Include a link to a copy of the assessment here as well.
The formal assessment was an 80pt quiz that covered material based on introductory genetics. It covered concepts such as genes, traits, alleles, heterozygous, homozygous, genotype, phenotype, mulitple alleles, polygenic traits, complete dominance, codominant alleles, punnet squares, haploid, diploid, crossing over, tetrads, meiosis, dominant, recessive. The first part was multiple choice, the middle was punnet squares and using the information fathered from them to answer questions and the last 3 questions on the test were short answer questions about crossing over, haploid gametes, and the difference between mitosis and meiosis.Students had 45 minutes to complete it. I have included a key to the test and 3 copies of student work. I will be reteaching the material to those that took the week out of school so they can retake the test for more credit.
High performing
very low performing: took a week out of school before vacation and completed zero work while away. will be retaught and retested.
low performing: this student also missed school and will be retaught the information and retested.
5. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your formal assessment or link it here.
6. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your informal assessment or link it here. This description should include the assessment's features, how it addresses different depths of knowledge, as well as an explanation of how it addresses a scientific practice related to inquiry.
Key is attached. It includes the assessments features. The first part is a summary so that is a DOK of 1 but they need to internalize the information and reflect on it so I think that it has a DOK 2 for reflection. This assignment forced students to read the material, cite their source, figure out what is most important and write a clear summary of the important aspects of the article they chose. Next they had to reflect on their article which included why they chose it and why it was important to the field of genetics and also what future prospects they think could arise out of their article. Then they had to present both to the class. This I thought was a good assignment because it related genetics to the outside world and out of the classroom and I could really see how much more interested and involved they are with the material then they originally were. They are a different class now once they see how genetics can be used for medicine, crime fighting etc. This whole thing was related to scientific inquiry because they had to seek out a genetics based article, summarize and reflect on it and then review it with their peers. I thought it simulated a genetics seminar and most importantly got them involved with the material on a more intrinsic level.
You could perhaps make the assignment resemble a seminar more by limiting Ss article choices to genetics results as reported on ScienceDaily.com. Summarizing (summaries of) scientific studies and reflecting on their relevance could be interesting. This is a tough call, since current events may be more intrinsically interesting.
7. & 8. - Already addressed above.
9. For your informal assessment, upload scans of the work of three or four students. The work of each student should be on a different page. At the bottom of each students' page, you should describe the level of student understanding, e.g. high, average, or low, and describe how this is indicated in their answers. An example of how to do this is here. Note: Remember to name the pages you create carefully, e.g. "Smith S10 - High Performing" instead of "High-Performing."
see #3 and #4.
10. For you formal assessment, describe how you think it addressed the concepts you were trying to assess? How did you modify the assessment to address learning differences or special needs?
I addressed the concepts I was trying to assess by looking at all of our classes and the chapter and then figuring out what was the most importantand what skills they needed to build upon for the next chapter. Once I had compiled all that iinformation then I was able to make my assessment. I tried to vary the types of questions by having multiple choice, punnet squares with questions that had to be done out as well as short answer questions. That way I think every type of learner could shine in their area but they could practice their skills in other areas too. In this specific class I did not have to modify the test for special needs but if I had to I would have extended the prompt for the short answer and had given key words they could use and maybe had some guiding questions to help them with the punnet square scenarios.
III. Analysis / Reflection
11. Use both the informal and formal assessments to describe what you learned about what your students understand about these concepts. Use specific examples from both the informal and formal assessment to illustrate your points. What can your students do now that they could not before, and what do they still need to learn?
The most important thing I learned is that my students ar black and white, there is no gray. I have to explicitly give them directions. I have been enlightened in this way and will have a different grading scheme from here on out as well as make my assessments in a way that gives them a rubric or grading sheet right off the bat so they know exactly what is expected of them so nothing is ambiguous. I learned this from the genetics current event assignment. I think that they still need help searching for scientific articles and finding reputable sources, that is a big one they need help with instead of just typing key words into google. They also need help citing their source and summarizing using their own words instead of copying from the article word for word. I also thought their reflections were very good and insightful so I was pleased with those, it seems like they took the time to complete it so that made me realize that this assignment was beneficial and sheds a new more positive light on the study of genetics in our classroom.
I'm not sure about the "black and white" since the Ss who did poorly were absent during your instruction. I am glad that you're thinking of ways to make the assignment more valuable. -
From the formal assessment I learned that they still needed some guidance with the punnet square scenarios. They did a great job with the multiple choice which was mainly vocabulary based but when it cam to the punnet squares and they had to put everything together it seems like they were a little lost. So I think that even though they said they could do it and I had them practicing in class they ultimately didn't know it as well as they thought and they should have been practicing more. Some students also missed a lot of school so that is what dragged their grade down because they didn't complete any work over vacation or make time to be retaught the information that they missed so it became clear on this assessment that they should have put more effort into getting their work done. Now we will reteach them and retest them. I think that the short answer questions went really well too, again they were vocabulary based and had to think but overall they could explain the concept and apply it. They just needed more practice with the punnet square scenarios and figuring out what they are being asked. Some of them just didn't read the directions too which I am finding they seldom read any directions!
Personally, I am skeptical of how much Ss understand about genetics after spending a lot of time working with Punnet squares. The bottom line is that we all have similar and different from our parents, but the Punnet squares don't seem to explain those variations because of the other complications. If these connections are made, i.e. if Ss don't understand when the model works and when it doesn't, doesn't using Punnet squares become "inert" esoterica? As a Bio teacher, what do you think? -
12. OMIT
13. For your formal assessment only, select one student characteristic, e.g. ability, gender, age, etc) and compare the relative performance of each group. Hint: Use box and whiskers plots to compare the two groups. What do you conclude from this comparison? Why?
I have one class of six students for biology. Two students got 100%, 1 still hasn't taken it, 28%, 55%, 48%. The girl got the 28%- she also missed a whole week of school and didnt complete any work that was given to her. The rest of the class is boys. I have 2 very bright and motivated students. I have 1 student that is never in school and is constantly playing catch up. The other 3 do their work but have to work at it. The difference in grades is very surprising but I will reteach and retest the material and go from there.
14. Describe any ways in which you involved students in self-assessment. How did you communicate what you learned from your informal and formal assessments to your students? What did they do with this information?
I think that self assessment was used in my informal assignment when students had to reflect on their summaries.Students will use their old tests to help themselves improve and practice and then will retake the test. We had a discussion about what we learned from everyone's genetics article as a class then i individually graded theirs based on the grading sheet that I made so it was clear what they were graded on. From the formal assessments I learned that I had to reteach the information and have students retake the test. They internalized all this information and are using it to make up what they missed with the genetics assignment and they will use the test to help themselves prepare for the next test.
If the Ss had the scoring guide before hand, could they use it for self-assessment? What problems does this solve? What problems does it introduce? -
15: Most Important: Compare your objectives for student learning (both in terms of science concepts and practices) to the student learning you observed. What did you learn about your teaching based on the student performances? What will you do differently next time? Why would you make these changes? What, if anything, will you do to improve the assessment instruments?
Teaching based on student performance can be challenging because each student has different strengths, weaknesses and capabilities. So to teach to multiple levels of students can be tricky. What I have learned is that if you break things down to let the really smart kids shine and then give pieces to the other levels so everyone can play their part then everyone is involved, challenged and motivated. Next assessment that I give I will have a table or rubric of exactly how many points are for what and what exactly they need to do broken down into parts. This will improve their work because they will have clear expectations and it will be easier for me to grade. It will also help me know what exactly I want from them so nothing is gray. Rubrics and a chart or table outlinging the assignment!!!! better for everyone.
I am glad you are thinking about meet all of your students' needs. I would think this is a crucial perspective when you have so few students in each class. I know it is difficult to believe given your knowledge of the context, as a teacher who always had ~120 students/year, there is really little excuse that all six are not high performing (other than they don't come to school).
25/24 - Excellent job overall. You need to get in the habit of correcting typos. -